Merging the Past and Future
by angel-death-dealer
Summary: Kate's having nightmares her horrific past merging with her promising future with Jack. Can they find out how to stop them before they drive her completely mad? Jate. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

The cry of a baby awoke Kate from her sleep. Grumbling she rolled on her side, pushing herself up from the bed by her arms until she was sitting up. Kate went over to the crib that Locke had built for Aaron, expecting to see a crying child, but not seeing anything besides a blanket. Frowning, she woke herself up a bit more, looking around her to see where the crying was coming from. Looking back at the bed, she saw that Jack wasn't their either.

Stepping out of the shelter, she glanced around her, spotting Jack holding the baby against his chest whilst the waves lapped around his legs. Smiling, she started down the beach towards them, glad that they were both all right. There was Jack, concentrating hard on the horizon, gently rocking the crying little girl in his arms.

"Jack, is everything all right?" She asked, as she stepped closer.

Jack didn't make any move in her direction as she came up beside him. He didn't even acknowledge her presence.

"Jack?" She tried again.

Again, he didn't say anything. She placed her hand on the screaming baby's back, but her hand felt something sticky and warm. Withdrawing her hand, she looked at it, horrified to see that her hand was covered in fresh blood. She looked from her hands to the baby, and then to Jack, who was now looking at her with a fixed gaze.

"Jack, what's happening?" She asked.

"Stop running, Kate." He said.

"I'm not running." She told him. She reached for the baby, and Jack took a step back from her. "Jack-?"

"You ran, Kate." He said. "You ran, and we got hurt."

"I'm not running!" She shouted as Jack started to walk off. "I'm not running anymore!" Jack turned to look at her. "What's happening to her?" She asked.

"You can't help her now." He said, and then disappeared along the waves into the darkness. Kate looked down at her hands, seeing the blood still dripping from them, blood from the baby's back, and screamed.

* * *

"KATE!"

Someone almost yelling her name into her ear brought her back to consciousness, and her eyes snapped open. She was already sitting up and there were several people around her. Claire was standing in the doorway with Charlie, Hurley was sitting at the end of her bed, Michael was standing beside him, and crouching at her side, directly before her, was Jack. She assumed that it was him that was calling her name. Somehow, she knew that it would be him. After all, they were together now, even though they hadn't told anyone yet.

Breathing hard, she felt hot tears running down her face. "Wh-wha-what happened?" She asked breathlessly.

"You were having a nightmare." Jack explained calmly to her. Placing his hand over her forehead, he felt the swift fever rising there, and the tremors passed through to his own hands. "Kate, you're burning up and your shaking." He said with a frown.

She was still looking around at them. "Where is she?" She asked.

Jack leaned closer. "Who?"

"The baby, where is she?" She repeated.

"Kate, what baby?" He asked.

"There was a little girl, you were holding her." Kate told him, as if she was horrified that he didn't remember. "She was bleeding, and you said that I couldn't help her." Everyone was looking at Kate with concerned frowns. She gulped, drawing in a shaky breath. "Don't look at me like I'm crazy, there was a baby!" She said as she started to cry.

Jack drew her into his arms. "Hey, hey, hey." He comforted. "It's all right. It's okay."

"No, it's not okay," Kate argued. "There was a little girl, Jack, I swear to you."

She clung to him like she was being dragged away from him as the others watched on with concerned expressions. Kate had gone off to bed earlier than the rest of them that night, complaining about feeling strange, so Claire had sent Michael to get Jack from the hatch whilst her, Hurley and Charlie sat near to her tent to make sure that she was all right until then. About ten minutes before Jack arrived, she started muttering and shifting in her sleep, and then just as Jack arrived she started to cry out. It had taken him a full five minutes to wake her up.

"Kate," He said softly as he rubbed her back, "You were dreaming." He reminded her. "The only baby on this island is Aaron, and he's a boy. There's no little girl here."

"There was." She said, shaking her head against him. "She was right here, you were holding her. I woke up, and she was crying, and there was a cradle right there-"

She pulled away from Jack and gestured over to her right, but the area of sand that she had seen the cradle on was empty.

"I-I don't understand." She said softly. "It was right there. There was blood on her back, Jack! I put my hand on her back and it dripping with blood. She was screaming, and I couldn't help her. You said that I'd ran, and that I'd hurt you both, and that I couldn't help her. I wanted to help her!"

"Kate," Jack said quietly, holding her chin and focusing her attention on him. "It was a nightmare."

"No" She started. "No, it wasn't-"

"Yes, Kate, it was a dream." He said to her. "You're feverish, and you're having vivid nightmares." He told her.

She looked up at him with sad eyes, tears still staining her cheeks. "Why won't you believe me?" She asked in a pained voice.

Claire came over, and sat in the sand beside Jack and Kate, she took up one of Kate's hands in her own. "I believe you, Kate." She said with a reassuring smile.

"You do?" Kate asked.

"Yeah, I do." Claire nodded.

"Thank you."

"Claire-" Jack began, but she shook her head, cutting him off.

"Look at her, Jack." Claire told him. "She's terrified. These are more than dreams."

"How can they be more than dreams?" Michael asked.

"How can they be anything less?" Claire countered.

There was a silent, in which all that could be heard was the shaking breaths that came from Kate. "Alright," Jack said, softly. "What do you suggest?"

"Libby helped me when my memory went." She said simply.

"You think Libby can help Kate?" Jack asked.

"It would explain why these things are troubling her."

Jack looked at the fearful look in Kate's eyes. "Kate-"

"Jack, please." Kate begged pathetically. "I have to know what happened, I have to know why I saw her."

Jack sighed, torn between staying and just comforting Kate, or letting her relive the experience that brought her to a wreckage of her usual self. After a few moments of deep though, he turned to Hurley, who knew exactly what he was going to say. "Hurley-"

"I'll go get Libby." He said simply, getting up and walking out of Kate's tent.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

"Right, Kate, I want you to close your eyes, and relax." Libby instructed. "Jack, have you got her?"

Jack nodded from his position behind Kate as she closed her eyes. Claire, Michael and Hurley were still there, with the addition of Libby, who thought it was best if Jack sat securely holding Kate, in case she had another outburst like before. He sat with his legs either side of hers, propping her back up against his chest. Her head relaxed against his shoulder as she took deep, calming breaths.

"Kate, what happened in your dream?" Libby asked when she was sure that Kate was relaxed enough.

"The baby was crying." Kate said in a quiet voice, that didn't sound like her own.

"Where was the baby?"

"She wasn't in the cradle. I'd put her in the cradle. She wasn't there."

She was now completely in a trance, gripping both of Jack's hands tightly with her own. Libby had said that Kate needed someone who she trusted and was comfortable with completely to keep hold of her throughout this, and immediately Jack had chosen to do it.

"Kate, where was the baby?" Libby repeated.

"She was outside, with Jack. They were down by the water."

Jack was listening intently to every word she said, wanting so much to take the pain away from her, but knowing that he couldn't. The expression on her face was like she was back in the dream. If he hadn't been able to hear her voice, he would have thought that she was.

"Kate, I want you to walk me through what happened."

"I went down to them. The baby was crying. Jack said that she was teething. I talked to him, but he wouldn't say anything. He just told me I had to stop running."

"When did he tell you she was teething?" Libby asked. "You said that he wouldn't say anything."

"I don't know. He told me before. She'd been waking up all week."

"Kate, have you had this dream before?"

"I was scared something was wrong with her." Kate continued, not hearing Libby. "He'd told me not to worry, that there was nothing I could do, just to let her teeth come through."

"Kate-"

"She wouldn't stop crying. I was so scared. Then there was the blood."

"What blood?"

"They were standing there, and when he didn't say anything, I tried to calm her down. I put my hand on her back, but when I pulled my hand back it was covered in blood. Her blood, on my hands. I didn't know what was happening. I asked Jack."

"What did he tell you?"

"He told me that I had to stop running, and I said I had. He told me that I ran and they got hurt. Just like before."

"Before?" Libby muttered to herself, looking up at Jack who gave her a confused look back. "I don't think this has to do entirely with what's happening here." She concluded.

"You think this has happened before? The dreams?" Jack asked.

"I think that she's had an experience that leads to these dreams, but recent circumstances have lead to them being set in the now familiar surroundings." She told them, before concentrating back on Kate. "Kate, what happened before?"

"He died." She said, a tear slipping out from underneath her eyelid and running down her cheek. Jack wanted to raise his hand and wipe it away but he didn't want to release either of Kate's hands.

"Who did?" Libby asked.

"Tom. Tom died because of me. I killed him." Jack remembered her saying that the toy airplane belonged to the man she loved, and the man she killed. "I was running, and he wouldn't get out of the car. They shot him."

"Who shot him?"

"The police. They were aiming for me, and they shot him." She said, her grip on Jack's hands becoming tighter. "I thought that I would be able to do it without him, but I couldn't. I couldn't do it."

"Do what?"

"I didn't know about it until he was gone. I thought I could do it, I really did. I tried, but it didn't work."

"Kate, what happened?"

"The baby died." She muttered. "The baby died."

"Tom's baby?"

"I tried to do it. I went to a hospital and had the baby, and then they let me go."

"What about the baby?"

"I took him with me. I called him Chris."

"Kate, how did the baby die?"

Her grip on Jack's hands heightened again, her knuckles turning white, and her previously calm face screwed up as tears rolled down her face. "No." She whimpered. "It wasn't my fault. I tried to help him." Her breathing became faster.

"Kate," Libby said, coming back to a stern tone of voice. "Kate, come back."

"I didn't mean for it to happen." She choked.

"Kate!" Libby tried again, but Kate let out a sob and didn't respond to her.

"What's happening?" Jack asked.

"She's returning to the memory of the baby dying." Libby explained quickly. "Kate, I'm going to count to three, and then you're going to come back to us. Ready, one…two…three."

"Chris!" She exclaimed, and then her eyes snapped open, looking at the tarp of the shelter above her. Breathing shuddering breaths, she collapsed into silent tears. "Oh god." She whimpered, as Jack's hands unlinked from hers and wrapped around her body instantly.

"It's alright, your back." Jack whispered to her as he held her. She held herself to him, glad to have been pulled out of that memory. There wasn't a day when Chris, or the way he had died ran through her mind, and it had gotten worse ever since she had those dreams. She hated that everyone in the tent had heard about it, but was consoled a little by the fact that she was in Jack's arms.

"Jack." She wept, and he pressed his lips against the top of her head.

"Sshhh, I'm here." He said to her gently. "It's alright, sweetheart, I'm here." He didn't care, for once, about hiding their relationship from everyone else. Both of them had wanted to keep it to themselves for a while, to enjoy each other without the influence of others, but right now, she needed him, and he wasn't going to back down from her call.

"Jack, I never hurt him." She told him. "I never did anything to hurt him."

"I know." He said, if only to calm her down.

"No, you don't." She cut in. "Please, Jack, please believe me." She said, as she turned so that she could look into his eyes. "I love Chris, I wouldn't do anything to hurt him, not in a million years. He was all I had, Jack."

Jack placed his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, it's all right," He said with a smile. "I believe you." He told her strongly, so that she would definitely understand that. "I know that you wouldn't have hurt him, not your son."

She hugged him tightly. "He was my whole world, and he disappeared." She cried. "I tried to keep him with me, but I couldn't."

"What happened?" Jack asked her. She looked at him, tears welling in her eyes. "Its okay, you don't have to tell me." He said when he saw how much the mere memory was paining her.

Shaking her head she replied "No, no, I need to tell someone. I never told anyone." Jack looked around at the others, then back at her, wondering whether or not she wanted them to leave, but she shook her head again, she really didn't care. "He was nearly a year old. We'd been on the run together the minute we left the hospital. We managed to get by, staying in motels, travelling a lot. He wasn't even sick, Jack. There was nothing wrong with him at all. Then one day he was crying a lot, I thought he was sick, but he didn't have a temperature or a rash or anything, but I was so scared because he just wouldn't stop crying." That was what had worried her in the dream, as she had told them before. "I was holding him in the car. We weren't going anywhere, just sitting outside of a motel. Then, he just stopped. It was silent. I thought that he might have gone to sleep, but when I looked closer, he'd stopped breathing." Her next breath came in a sob. "My baby died in my arms, Jack. I tried for hours to get him to wake up, but he wouldn't. Chris died, and I don't even know why." She looked away, almost laughing at herself. "I guess people like me just aren't meant to be mothers."

Jack placed his hand underneath her chin, turning her to face him. "Kate, that's not true, and you know it." He told her quietly. "You'd make a brilliant mother."

"How could I?" She asked. "I couldn't keep my son alive, let alone safe."

He shook his head. "It sounds to me like Sudden Infant Death Syndrome." He explained. "There's hardly ever cause, no reason at all, and it's certainly no one's fault."

Kate stared at him for a few minutes and then hugged him close again. "Jack, make the dreams stop." She begged.

"We'll find a way." He promised her, "We'll stop them."

"I can't lose another baby."

After this statement, the others all looked at each other in some kind of disbelief, looking from one another, to the pair sitting on the bed. Couldn't lost another baby? Kate was pregnant? Now? And was it Jack's? They had all seen the little things going on between them that night - the comfortable way in which they held each other, the desperate way that she clung to him, the soft kisses he placed against her hair and forehead. It was clear to them that something was going on between them.

Some of them left without making excuses, letting the pair have their space, after all, this was a very hard thing for Kate, and clearly she didn't need them hanging around. Libby stayed where she was, and Hurley put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's all right, Libby." Jack said quietly, giving her a smile. "I can take things from here. Thanks for your help."

"Anytime." She said with a soft smile back, and taking Hurley's hand, the pair left the shelter.

Claire also hung back, still sitting near to Kate's side. "You going to be okay?" Claire asked them both.

Kate nodded sadly, still holding herself to Jack. "Thank you for believing me, Claire." Kate said, her voice hoarse from the crying.

"No problem, sweetie, just take it easy." Kate nodded, and then Claire smiled at Jack. "You take care of her Jack Shephard." She said in that motherly tone she took with most people now.

"I'm not going anywhere." He assured her.

"Oh, and another thing…" Claire said, "I don't know why you're both trying so hard to hide it from us. We all know that you love each other." She smiled, and then left the shelter.

As she left, Jack kissed Kate's hair again. "I'm sorry I made such a fuss." Kate said, like a scolded child apologizing for breaking something expensive.

Jack shook his head. "It's all right." He told her, placing a hand on her forehead. "You're still burning up." He mused. "When was the last time you got a decent nights sleep?" He asked her.

"About three years ago." She answered.

"Kate." He said in that tone he reserved only for her, that loving pitch. "You should get some rest."

"No." She said. "I can't, not after that." It sounded like she was scared to fall asleep in case of what she might see.

"I'm not going anywhere, Kate." He promised her. "I'm not going to let anything hurt you."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you." She said sadly.

"It's all right." He said. "We don't have to talk about this now."

"I've only known since this morning." She continued.

Jack realised that she wasn't talking about Chris anymore. "Known what?"

"That there's a baby." She admitted, and they looked into each others eyes. "I know that we've been careful, and all, but it's for real, Jack. I'm pregnant."

Jack felt a smile spread across his face, and he leaned his forehead against hers, kissing her. "Kate, that's the best news I've ever heard." He told her.

"You're not mad?" She asked.

"Why on earth would I be mad at this? We might be on a deserted island, but that doesn't change a thing. I love you." Kate looked away sadly. "Kate?"

"What if it happens again, Jack?" She asked. "What happened to Chris, what if it happens again? Just like in the dream-"

"Kate, I promised that I wasn't going to let anything or anyone hurt you." Jack reminded her. He placed his hand over her stomach slowly, waiting until she placed her hand over his with a sigh. "That goes for this little one as well." He said, and he kissed her again.

"You really think we can do this?" She asked.

"Without a doubt." He nodded, and she knew just by looking in his eyes that he wasn't lying. He really would walk to the end of the earth and back for her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

Kate and Jack sat together on Kate's bed. She was determined to stay awake, even hours after the others had left. Every time she closed her eyes, even to blink, she was haunted by images of Chris's tiny face, greyish blue from death. Jack understood this, but assured her that if she wanted to sleep, he was going to be there, but even knowing that Jack was holding her didn't make her feel at ease enough to sleep. So she just stayed there, resting in his arms without sleeping, as even this gave her a security that she longed for.

Now, at just past midnight according to Jack's watch, she was starting to feel the embarrassment settle in. How many people now knew about Chris? Libby, Hurley, Michael, Charlie, Claire...Jack...She resisted the tempation to bury herself in the sand, but knew that this would solve nothing. They knew now, and that was it.

Maybe the dreams were trying to tell her something? She was with Jack now, in more ways than one, and she was pregnant. Did this dream depict the future? Was she going to have a daughter this time? What about the blood though? Did that mean that her baby was going to get hurt? In the dream, Jack had said that they got hurt because she ran. Where they going to get rescued? Was she going to run, and get them hurt in the process?

The thoughts that piled up started to give her a headache, and she took one of her hands out of Jack's as she placed it to her head, kneading her temple with her palm with a soft groan.

"Kate?" Jack asked in a whisper, his voice coming in close to ear where he was sat back behind her again.

"It's all right." She said in a throaty whisper. "Just a headache."

Of course, the term 'just a headache' doesn't really work with a doctor. He reached over into the sand for his water bottle, the cool sand keeping it from getting warm, and handed it to her. "Here, have some water." He said, uncapping it.

She drank some, and then handed it back to him. "Thank you."

She settled back against him, her back against his chest whilst her head nestled just below his chin in a perfect fit. He released her hand, and wrapped his arms around her, and she placed her hands over them, holding him in position.

"Kate, you should sleep." He tempted yet again, but was met with another shake of her head.

She was silent for a while, and all they could hear was the distant crashing of the waves on the shore, then Kate spoke up again. "Jack, what do you think they mean?" She asked quietly.

"What?" He asked, almost having not heard her.

"The dreams." She told him. "What do you think they mean?"

He bit his lip, not really sure what to tell her. "I don't know." He said honestly. "Maybe they don't mean anything, maybe they're just happening because you're worried."

She shook her head. "They have to mean something. The only dreams I've ever had more than one night in a row have meant something." She revealed, and he knew that she was talking about the ones that showed Tom and Chris dying.

"We'll find out." Jack promised her. "We're going to make them stop."

"Maybe they're trying to tell me that I'm going to be a terrible mother." She shrugged. "I couldn't help Chris, mabye I won't be able to help this one either."

"Kate, thats not true." Jack said, lifting her face to look at him. "What happened with Chris was not your fault." He said. "It was a freak death that is very uncommon, there's no cause for it." Kate went silent, clearly absorbed in her own thoughts, and then Jack shook his head. "Oh god." He muttered.

"What?" She asked, startled out of her thoughts.

"I can't believe I made you deliver Claire's baby." He admitted. "That was so...stupid!" He grimaced. She had said to Charlie that she couldn't deliver it, and he thought that she was just scared, and instead, it was because of Chris...

"It was hard." Kate nodded. "When Aaron got sick, and we went to find the cure, I thought that I'd jinxed him."

"Kate, there's no such things as jinxes." Jack brushed off. "Babies get sick, it's what happens."

"Still." Kate shrugged. "I was scared. I didn't want Claire to go through what I did."

This was partly why Jack loved her. She was so compassionate. Always thinking of other people. Even now, when she was scared to the point of trembling all night, she was thinking of the baby, of Claire and her baby. Always giving and never taking. He pulled his arms tighter around her.

"Don't worry, you're not going to go through it again." He assured her.

"You can't promise me that." She muttered weakly.

"Yes I can." He said stubbornly. "I'm going to take care of you, Kate." He said to her. "I'm going to look after you, and nothing bad is going to happen to either of you. I promise."

She held his arms closer around her again, and lay against him. "I'm tired." She said simply, her eyes drooping.

"Go to sleep." He said, but she shook her head. "Kate, you have to sleep sometime."

"I can't." She said painfully.

"Kate, I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to sit here and watch over you until you wake up. The minute I see you having a nightmare, I'll wake you up and stop it." He said, and she looked at him with a pleading look on her face. "Come on now, lay down honey."

Giving in to him, she lay back against the airline seat, and he lay behind her, keeping his secure hold on her.

"Jack?" She asked him quietly after a few minutes.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for looking after me." She said as she started to drift off to sleep. "No ones ever looked after me before."

"Don't worry, sweetie, I'm going to look after you for as long as I live." He said, and kissed her hair as she fell into a deep sleep almost immediately.

* * *

_Kate opened her eyes to see a little girl standing before her, leaning over her sleeping body curiously. When she saw that Kate was awake, she leaned back triumphantly. "Hello." She said in that loud, child-like whisper. _

_Kate sat up, removing Jack's arm from around her. "Wha-?" She whispered tiredly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. It was morning, and the sunlight was filtering in through the gaps in the tarp, lighting the tent so that Kate could clearly see the child before her. _

_"Can we go play?" The girl asked._

_She looked closely at the girl before her. She had green eyes, filled with a playful sparkle; dark hair that curled weakly like her own; slightly tanned skin with a scattering of freckles over the bridge of her nose and her cheeks. In fact, Kate thought that she was looking at a moving photograph of herself when she was a child._

_"Come on!" The girl demanded, and took hold of Kate's hand. "Come with me!"_

_She pulled on it, and Kate stood with her, walking out of the tent.

* * *

_

Kate rose with her eyes closed, and left the tent, still asleep, one hand stretched before her as if it were being pulled on, leading her away. Beside where she had previously lay, Jack was sleeping soundly, not even realising that she was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

Jack woke up only minutes later, shifting slightly in his sleep and reaching for Kate. When his hand touched nothing but the bed beside him, he snapped his eyes open in an instant looking around him. "Kate?" He called as he sat up, but saw that she wasn't in the shelter. He frowned to himself, but realised that the sun was in the sky only a little, so she must have gone for breakfast. She had mentioned that she slept very little, and he nearly always saw her up and about early in the morning. On the nights they spent together, she was always awake before he was.

He stood up and left the shelter, looking around the camp. There was no trace of her to be seen. He was about to call out her name again when Claire saw him and came over.

"Morning Jack." She said brightly, sitting Aaron against her hip.

"Hey." He said quietly.

"How is she?" She asked, nodding into the shelter where she thought Kate was.

"I'm not sure." Jack asked. "She must already be out here somewhere."

Claire gave him a strange look. "She's not out here." She told him.

"Wait a minute-what do you mean she's not out here?" He asked her when he realised what she had said.

"I've been awake for hours, so has Charlie, and we haven't seen Kate."

Jack frowned again as he looked around. "She has to be." He said. "I woke up and she was gone."

"Dude, who's gone?" Hurley asked as he came over.

"Have you seen Kate?" Jack asked him, trying not to sound too frantic and failing.

"Not since last night." Hurley shrugged. "Isn't she with you? I didn't see her come out of the tent today."

Jack ran his hands over his face frustratedly. "Shit." He murmered, and started buzzing around the camp asking who had seen her. Steve hadn't, Locke had been at the hatch all night and hadn't seen her at all, Michael hadn't seen a thing, neither had Sayid, but he went off and asked several others. After asking nearly the whole camp he groaned as he stood near the fireside where breakfast was cooking.

"Has anyone see Kate?" He asked loud enough to get all of their attention. The replies were the same as what he had heard all morning.

"No."

"Not since yesterday."

"She's not with you?"

"Jack! JACK!"

Someone was calling him and he turned to see Walt coming over followed by Sayid who had followed on his shouts.

"What is it?" Jack asked Walt as he approached.

"I just saw Kate!" He said breathlessly.

"What? Where was she?" Jack asked him, looking around again as if he expected her to walk out of the trees.

"I was taking Vincent for a walk, and she was walking through the jungle on her own."

"She was in the jungle?" Jack asked with a frown.

"I called her, but she didn't hear me. She had her eyes closed, like she was asleep or something." Walt told him. "She just kept walking, like she never saw Vincent run over to her."

"Wait...where's Vincent now?" Sayid asked when he noticed that the dog wasn't with him anymore.

"He followed Kate." Walt told him.

Jack resisted the temptation to hit himself on the head against the nearest tree branch, but instead put a hand on Walt's shoulder. "Go get some breakfast, Walt, it's nearly done cooking." Jack told him calmly.

"What about Vincent?" He asked.

"We'll bring the dog back, don't worry." Jack said, and Walt disappeared off.

"What do we do?" Sayid asked as soon as Walt was out of earshot.

"I need you to get Locke and Sawyer and meet me back here in ten minutes." Jack told him.

"Why Sawyer?" Sayid asked.

"Because Sawyer's got the guns." Jack reminded him.

"You think that we'll need them?"

"You never know in this place." Jack said, and went off to get his bag.

* * *

Ten minutes later, they were getting ready to leave. Claire came over to the four. "Where are you going?" She asked them.

"Walt saw Kate out in the jungle. She was sleepwalking." Jack told her.

"Sleepwalking?" Sawyer asked. "We're going off into the jungle with guns because Freckles decided to take a walk in her sleep?"

Jack looked at Sawyer. "Yeah, that's exactly what we're doing." He said simply.

"Mind me asking why?"

"Sawyer, do you have any idea how dangerous sleepwalking is? Especially in a place like this?" Jack asked him tiredly.

"So what...she'll walk into a tree and bump her head...it'll wake her up." Sawyer smarted, and Jack rounded on him.

"There's more to it than that. She could walk into the river, knock herself out and drown before she realises it. She could walk right off a cliff. What's worse is that sleepwalkers can do nearly anything they usually do when they're awake. This is Kate - she could climb up a tree and fall out of it, seriously hurting herself or worse. She could get attacked by a boar, a polar bear, or whatever that thing is that's out there!" His voice rose and he was practically shouting at Sawyer now just to let out his own frustration. "She could walk right into their hands! Those people out there! They took Claire when she was pregnant...it's only a matter of time before they want Kate as well! If she walks into their hands there's a chance that I might never see her again!"

Jack felt a hand on his arm that stopped him from going any further, and saw that it was Claire. "Jack..." She said softly. "You'll find her." She said determindely. "If anyone can find her, it's you." He was about to say something but she cut him off. "You're the only person she'd want to find her." She gave him a gentle push in the direction of the forest. "She needs you, Jack...go get her."


	5. Chapter 5

_Kate moved branches out of the way to keep up with the little girl bounding ahead of her. "Hurry up!" She would call whenever Kate fell behind, and come running back to make sure she was still coming. "Come on! Don't be a slow coach!"

* * *

_

"We need to rest, Jack."

"We need to find her."

"Jack, we've been walking for hours."

"So has she."

"Jack."

Jack finally turned and looked Locke in the eye, the protectiveness in his eyes evident to him immediately. The idea of taking time off to rest when Kate wasn't found yet was absurd to Jack, who looked at Locke as if he was suggesting they put on costumes and re-enact the Nutcracker in the middle of the jungle.Right now, Jack wanted one thing: Kate. He wanted her back, and he wanted her safe.

"John, I've got to find her." He said determinedly.

"You can't help her if you don't rest." Locke reasoned.

"What if she falls of a cliff," He thought. "Or runs into-"

"Jack!" He interrupted again, not wanting him to go down that thought path again, mainly because it left him blaming himself for falling asleep again. "We'll find her." He said surely. "Just rest. For ten minutes."

Jack stood, catching his breath from their fast-paced walking which had suddenly drawn to a halt. "Ten minutes." He said simply, repeating what Locke had just told him.

"Ten minutes." He nodded. "That's all I ask."

He stood there, debating. Could they really afford to lose ten minutes? Walt had seen Kate in the jungle with Vincent. Then he had come straight away to get them. And they had left within twenty minutes, easily. They had also been walking quickly, only a little short of running, since they started hours ago, and whilst this meant that they could have easily caught up with her, they all knew that it would be soon, because sleep-walking people rarely have a purpose or a target, and are simply following the patterns of their dreams. With Kate's dream, however, it was scaring Jack, especially after her reaction the previous night.

Eventually, when he noticed the ragged breathing of his companions that matched his own - their worn, tired faces begging for rest, he nodded vaugley and sat down on a nearby rock.

The others silently followed his example, sitting down where they were standing, and catching their breath between drinking water from their packs.

Jack silently held the handgun before him, looking over every detail of it. When Sawyer had learned that it was Kate who was at threat, he had easily handed over the guns, revealing them to be in his tent the whole time, beneath a metal sheet from the plane wreckage. He remembered when they went after Michael when he fled to the Others...Locke had told him that they had as much chance of hitting Michael as they did one of Them. The same rules applied now. What if they hit Kate? What if Jack shot Kate? Could he ever live with the guilt of having shot, or worse, killed, the only woman he had ever truly loved, the woman who was carrying his child?

"So...Kate's pregnant, I hear?" Locke said, breaking the silence around them and interrupting Jack's thoughts.

Jack looked up at him, and nodded. "Yeah. She is." He said, a little breathless still.

Locke smiled. "Congratulations."

Jack raised an eyebrow. No one knew that him and Kate were together other than the ones who had been in the tent last night, and had heard her confession. Locke was not one of those people. "What makes you think I'm the father?" He asked curiously. Strange how these people just assumed straight away that if Kate was pregnant than Jack was the father.

"Who else would it be?" Locke asked rhetorically, and Sawyer rolled his eyes, unnoticed by the others. "There's only one person on this island that Kate's in love with." Jack raised his lips to the hint of a smile, and Locke caught onto this. "You'll be a good father, Jack."

Jack's smile faded, and he shook his head doubtfully. "I'm not so sure."

"What makes you think otherwise?" Locke asked him. "Kate disappears for longer than three seconds, and you're the first one off looking for her. You're protective, level-headed, and most of all, you're commited. I know that you have some unresolved issues with your father, but that is the basic fact that will make you a good father - learning from his mistakes."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

Sawyer's head snapped up. "Wait a minute...Freckles has got a bun in the oven?"

Clearly he hadn't picked up on the subtle hints earlier that morning before they left, and he hadn't been listening fully for the past minute when they were talking outright about it.

"Yeah, she's pregnant, Sawyer." Jack confirmed again.

The twig Sawyer was rolling between his hands was thrown to the ground. "Damn it, why is everyone on this island getting more action than me?" He demanded.

"Maybe it's a sign." Jack said simply.

Locke laughed, a strange sound to the other two men. "And I thought you weren't a spiritual person?"

"I'm not." Jack said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Yet you're terrified that something out of your control is going to hurt Kate." He pointed out.

Jack didn't dignify it with an answer, and simply stood up, putting his bag back on. "Let's keep going."

* * *

_Kate moved tree branches out of the way that were high enough for the little girl to walk straight underneath, but not for Kate. She either had to duck, or move them. Because of this, the girl often bounded out of sight, and Kate had to call for her to come back - a strange thing, considering that she didn't know this child's name, or where she came from._

_"Come on, we're going to be late!" She said, jumping up and down on the spot impatiently._

_"Late for what?" Kate asked._

_"It's a surprise." The girl said in a loud whisper. _

_"I'm not very good with surprises." Kate told her, wanting to know what it was._

_"You'll like this one." She nodded. "I promise. Daddy says so."_

_So, she knew this child's father...that was a start. "Daddy said, huh?"_

_"Daddy's always right." The girl smiled, and then bounded off again. "Hurry up! We'll miss it!"_


	6. Chapter 6

Locke came to a halt in the middle of a clearing, checking it over whilst the others walked on. Jack had refused to stop for rest any other time, and so had nearly walked himself to exhaustion. Locke knew that if he didn't stop him soon, he would likely collapse from exhaustion.

"We should set up camp for the night." He announced, and the others turned back to him. Sawyer nodded in agreement, but Jack, again, eyed him as if he were crazy.

"What?"

"We need to get a fire going before it gets too dark to see." He said, looking around at the same time for some firewood.

"No, we've got to keep walking." Jack said, shaking his head.

"We will - when the sun comes up." Locke nodded.

"We need to keep walking now, John." Jack insisted.

Locke shook his head. "I can't track her if I can't see anything." He pointed out. "We wait until morning."

"We can't." Jack said. "What if-"

"We wait until morning." Locke repeated, slower this time.

"He's right, Doc." Sawyer said to Jack. "If we go on in the dark we could end up even further away from her."

"I can't just sit back and let her wander off even more." Jack sighed desperately. "I've got to find her."

"Will you listen to the tracker already?" Sawyer asked loudly. "We can't find her in the dark. It's dark. We can find her in the light. So, we'll wait for the light."

When Locke began to gather firewood, and Sawyer picked a spot to sit down in, Jack realised that he had little choice.

* * *

Charlie stepped up beside Claire, who was standing at the entrance of her tent, looking out into the jungle. She looked worried and tired. "Claire, is everything all right?" He asked her.

"It's almost midnight." She muttered.

"Yeah, so it is." He said, checking his watch. "You should be asleep, what with being up half of last night with Kate."

Claire finally tore her eyes off of the treeline to look at Charlie. "They're not back yet, Charlie." She told him.

He nodded firmly. "They'll be back." He assured her.

"What if they don't find her?" She asked.

"This is Kate we're talking about." He pointed out. "Jack's not going to let her go for the world. He'll keep on searching forever until he brings her home."

"You believe that?"

Charlie smiled at her. "I thought you believed in happy endings?"

"I thought you didn't." She countered, but with a hint of a smile that was enough for him.

"Don't worry, Claire. In a few years, we'll look back on this night, and then we'll look over there," He pointed out a random spot by the trees, "And we'll see Jack and Kate with their millions of children."

"Millions?"

Charlie shrugged. "You never know." Claire laughed a little, and Charlie steered her in the direction of her tent. "Come on, you should get some sleep before Aaron wakes up."

* * *

_"Stop!" The girl said, standing directly infront of Kate so that she nearly tripped over her._

_"What's the matter?" Kate asked her._

_"It's dark now." The girl explained._

_"Oh...have we missed your surprise?" She asked._

_"No, but we can't walk in the dark!" She said simply._

_"Why not?" Kate asked. "It's not that dark yet, we can still see. Nothing's going to happen to you." _

_The girl turned around to face Kate. "That's not what Uncle Sawyer says."_

_Aha. Uncle Sawyer. One step closer. So, Sawyer wasn't her father. "What did Uncle Sawyer say?" Kate asked._

_"He said that there's a monster in the trees and it'll come get me if I'm bad." She said quietly, looking at the trees._

_Kate kneeled down to her level. "The monster isn't coming to get you." She assured her._

_"He said you'd say that." She continued. "He said you'd be lying."_

_She shook her head. "I'm not lying." She said. "I won't let the monster get you."_

_"Promise?"_

_"I promise."_

_They carried on walking, but only two minutes later..._

_"Stop!" She cried again._

_Kate laughed. "What now?"_

_The girl looked up at Kate with a sleepy expression. "Tired...night-night time." She said._

_"Okay." Kate nodded. "Uh...here's good." She said, noticing they were in a clearing. They went over to one side of it, and then lay down together, Kate lying on her side and the girl curling up against her. It was silent for a moment, and then the girl fidgetted and sat up. "What's the matter?" Kate asked her._

_"Daddy's not here." She said sadly._

_"No...I guess not." Kate agreed, as they were still alone._

_"I always say goodnight to Daddy." She said. "He sleeps with us."_

_"Is Daddy supposed to be out here with us?" Kate asked._

_"Daddy's going to meet us for the surprise too."_

_"Oh."_

_The girl looked around her for a few more moments, and then leaned her head back, openeing her mouth, and then shouted as loudly as she could: "GOODNIGHT DADDY!"

* * *

_

In the camp in another clearing, Jack's head whipped up from where it was resting back against a tree. Was he imagining things, or had he heard a child's voice? He looked at Locke and Sawyer, wondering if they had heard it too, but Locke was preparing some food, and Sawyer was reading by the flickering light of the fire.

"Did anyone just hear that?" He asked.

"Hear what?" Locke asked him.

Jack looked at the trees around them curiously. "I swear I just heard someone shouting 'goodnight daddy'." He told them.

"Sounds like someone's letting fatherhood go to their head." Sawyer teased.

"No, really, didn't any of you hear that?" Jack insisted.

"Shut up and go to sleep, Jack." Sawyer told him.

* * *

_'"Sshh!" Kate said when the girl had finished shouting._

_"What?" The girl asked. "You said the monster wouldn't get us."_

_Kate knew that it was just the monster out there they had to be careful of. It was the Others. "It won't...but...uh..." What could she say?" "Daddy might already be asleep, you might wake him up." She said._

_"He won't be asleep." The girl said shaking her head._

_"How do you know?" _

_"He tells you." She said. "When you make him go night-night early, he stays waked-up for us, and he says that he can't sleep without us three there."_

_Kate frowned a little. "Us three."_

_"Me and my brother and you."_

_Kate smiled. "You've got a brother?"_

_The girl nodded. "I've got two brothers. One doesn't live with us, he lives in a nice place called Heaven. His name's Chris." Kate looked sadly at the girl, remembering her dead son. "I never saw him before, but Daddy says that he watches his Mommy. And you know my other brother. He's not my little brother or my big brother, because he was born at the same time as me. On the same day and everything. Daddy says that me and Luke are twins." She babbled._

_"Yeah, twins, that's right." Kate confirmed._

_"Luke's bringing Daddy to the surprise." She continued, looking around again. "He said he's be here now, but he's not."_

_"I'm sure he's okay." Kate assured._

_"What if he hasn't found Daddy yet?"_

_"I'm sure he has." Kate nodded._

_"Okay." The girl looked at Kate and then lay back down beside her. "Goodnight Mommy."_

_Kate froze, but the girl still cuddled up to her. "Uh...goodnight...baby."_


	7. Chapter 7

"Hey...hey...wake up."

Jack felt himself being tugged from the restless sleep he had succumbed to the previous night. "Hmm.." He moaned as he became more aware of the ache in his back that came from sleeping on nothing but uneven ground.

"Wake up, Daddy."

Daddy?

"Huh?" He mumbled, blearly opening his eyes.

Right in front of his face was a crouching child. A crouching child with dark hair, brown eyes, and freckles. He was so close, that he could have counted the freckles individually if he was still for long enough.

"Yay! You're awake!" He said brightly to him. "Come on." He added, sitting back on his heels. "We need to go, we're late."

"Wha? Late? For what?" Jack asked, still half asleep. In fact, he was still so out of it that he wasn't seeing anything strange about a young child he had never seen before talking to him in the jungle.

"Meeting Mommy and Lily." He said. "For the surprise."

"Surprise?" He repeated, adding the simple concept of confusion to his word. What surprise? Who were these people he wanted to meet? Why did he need to go?

"Lily's taking Mommy to the special place we found." He told Jack. "We need to meet them there."

"What?" He asked again. "Who's your mother? Who's Lily?"

The boy gave him a strange look and laughed. Jack recognised that smile...he just couldn't place it. "Don't be silly, Daddy. You know Mommy and my sister."

There it was again, calling him Daddy. Some strange things had happened on this island, but he was sure he would remember fathering a child. "Uhh..." He started, not sure of what else to say.

"Hurry up!"

The boy suddenly took off from the ground, and called to him again. Then he disappeared into the bushes that they were heading into before they bedded down for the night.

For a moment, Jack lay there, and then he brought himself into a sitting position, thinking over what had just happened. That kid, whoever he was, was calling him 'daddy'...and was looking for his mother and sister. The thing that got him, however, was the dusting of freckles on the child's cheeks.

Maybe...

"Whoa!" He called, jumping to his feet and grabbing his back when the ache intensified. "Wait up!" There was no answer to his shout other than the groans of the waking men around him. "Hey, kid, come back!" He called again.

"Jack?" Locke asked, coming to his senses.

"What the hell, Doc?" Sawyer asked. "We're trying to sleep here."

"We need to go." Jack said, crossing over to the ashes of their campfire where his bag lay. He put it up on his shoulders.

"Go where?" Sawyer asked.

"I think I know how to find Kate." Jack revealed, and without looking back to see if the others were following him, he took off after the little boy.

----------------

"Mommy...wake up..."

After the previous day, the call of the little girl whispering in her ear wasn't something that phased her. Of course, she was still confused as to why this child was calling her 'mommy', when Kate never remembered delivering a child, but she had learned that whenever she asked those sorts of questions, she didn't get any sort of answer, because the girl treated it as something that she should automatically know, being her mother.

"Hmmm..." She muttered, as she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Good morning." She yawned.

"Come on, we've got to go." The girl insisted.

"Huh?"

"The place!" She reminded her. "Come on!"

"Oh...right..." Kate said, climbing to her feet with the aid of a nearby tree. Somehow, she didn't quite feel awake, like she had been sleeping for days on end, and for the first time, she had awaken. She now felt the aches in her body, unsure of how they had gotten there. She had been walking for a whole day, with few breaks, and now she was aching all over.

"We need to go now." The girl insisted again, tugging on her hand to get her walking.

"Okay." Kate said, and the girl released her hand, doing her usual of walking ahead of her, but not so far ahead that she lost sight of her. Behind her, she heard a rustling, and when she turned, she caught sight of a golden head in the bushes.

Vincent?

They walked for an hour or two, and then Kate stopped in her tracks. The girl noticed, and turned back to her.

"What's the matter?" She asked.

Kate was focusing on the surroundings...they looked so familiar. "We've been here before." She decided. She had definately been in this clearing yesterday when they were walking.

"Daddy said that last time." The girl told her.

Last time? Kate thought to herself. "What?" She asked.

"When we walk this way, Daddy always things we've been here before, but we haven't." The girl explained. "You said that the flowers weren't in the last place that looks like this one."

"What flowers?" She asked.

"My flowers." The girl replied. "My name flowers."

At that moment, Kate realised that she didn't know the girls name. She was calling her 'mommy', and she didn't even know the child's name. Instinctively, she started to look around for some flowers, but she couldn't see any...only greenery from the trees and bushes.

"Come on!" The girl called again before Kate could spot any flowers. "Hurry up!"

----------------

As they walked, Jack kept his eyes trained for any movement in the bushes. The others followed him, but only Locke was doing any investigating on the terrain like Jack was. He couldn't understand why Jack was looking so hard for something though.

"Jack, what exactly are we following?" Locke asked.

"A child." He said, before he could stop himself. Great, now they probably thought that he was the crazy one.

"A kid?" Sawyer asked incredulously. "I thought we were looking for Freckles."

"The boy is leading us to her." Jack revealed, or at least, that's the conclusion he had come to.

"How the hell do you know that?" The Southerner asked irritantly.

"I just do." Jack said tiredly.

"Like thats a reason." Sawyer said sarcastically.

Jack turned to him, stopping in his tracks. "I know what I'm doing!" He insisted hotly. Sawyer was about to respond, probably with another sarcastic comment, when Locke spoke up.

"Jack, there's no trail." He revealed.

"What?" Jack asked.

"Since we started walking this morning, there hasn't been any trail...and we're moving away from Kate's trail."

"There has to be a trail." He insisted.

"There isn't." Locke said, shaking his head.

"No, there has to be something." Jack continued, starting to panick a little. Hadn't Locke seen the footprints that he had seen?

"There's nothing, Jack."

"Maybe you missed som-"

"We haven't missed anything, because there's nothing to miss." Locke cut him off.

There was a small silence, and then Sawyer spoke up. "Then what the hell are we following?"

Locke gave a twisted smile. "Jack's mind."

"John-" He started, but was cut of yet again.

"Last night you said you heard a child shouting 'goodnight' through the jungle, and now you wake up with the need to follow a boy." Locke pointed out.

"That's different, the call last night came from a girl." Jack told them.

"What exactly happened this morning, Jack?" Locke asked curiously.

He sighed, seeing as they already thought he was crazy he might as well tell them the whole story. "The boy was waking me up, saying that we needed to hurry to meet his sister and mother." He told them. "He said that they were going to a special place, and that we needed to meet them there."

Another silence fell upon them, whilst they all looked at Jack strangely.

"Doc, are you taking some of those pills from the back of the box?" Sawyer asked him, a curious expression on his face.

"It happened." Jack insisted. It couldn't be a hallucination.

"Maybe it's a sign." Locke offered.

"That's your excuse for everything." Sawyer complained.

"Kate's tracks were very well planned for someone who was sleepwalking." Locke told them, something that he clearly hadn't told them when they were following her trail before. "It's rare for someone to sleepwalk through a dream on the actual location that they are sleeping. There's only two explanations for that."

"Which are?" Jack asked.

"Either she knows for definate where she's going, or she's following someone."


	8. Chapter 8

The sun started to set, and Kate and the girl continued on through the jungle. They were very far away from camp now. She had never seen this part of the jungle before, or even anything that looked like it. She hoped that they weren't lost.

"Stop now." The girl said, coming to a sharp hault in front of Kate that nearly caused her to walk into the child.

"Is this it?" Kate asked, looking at the simple clearing around them..

"No, silly." The girl laughed. "It's dark again."

She remembered the fiasco the night before. "Oh, you don't want to walk in the dark again, do you?" She realised.

"No, dark is for sleepy tune," The girl said.

"Yeah, I guess so." Kate nodded.

They made their way over to the edge of the clearing, beneath a bamboo tree. The girl looked around sadly, and then up at Kate. "Daddy's still not here." She said.

"I guess not." Kate agreed, seeing that there was no one in the clearing with them.

"I hope here's here soon." The girl said quietly.

Kate didn't know what to say to that, so she just said the first thing that came into her head. "I'm sure he will be."

"If Daddy doesn't come, then you won't get to know." The girl said, still with a sad tone of voice, knowing that her plan might not get to work.

"Know what?" Kate asked.

"You need to see."

"See what?" Kate asked again.

"What it's going to be like, so you won't be scared about it no more."

"Scared?" She questioned.

"You're scared that you can't do it." The girl continued. "You need to see that you can. You've gotta see that things are happy."

"What things?" Kate asked, getting more confused by the second.

"Our things." The girl said. "Sleep now, night night."

She curled up on the ground beside Kate and fell still.

"Wait--" But she was already asleep, and gave no answer to Kate's call. "--Nevermind." She muttered to herself.

-------------------------------

All day, Jack had seen glimpses of the boy running around. After Locke had insisted that there was no trail, Jack had seen him by a waterfall that they passed, and by quickening their pace a fraction, he was able to see every time he darted down a trail, or around the corner. Now, however, it was getting late again, and once they had stumbled across a clearing again, they bedded down for the night. Locke took out some food from his bag and offered it to Jack.

"Here." He said, holding out the makeshift plate to him.

Jack declined, shaking his head. "I'm not hungry."

"Yes, you are." Locke said, not withdrawing his offer.

Jack hesistated, and then took the food from him. His gaze fell back to the bushes on their right. He kept on seeing the boy running through them, first of all he would run off, seeing if they were following him, and then he would run back when they didn't.

"So whereabouts do you think we are?" Sawyer asked.

"We've been walking for two days now." Locke said. "We should be getting nearer to the other side of the island, giving time for the fact that we changed direction a little."

"The other side, huh?" Sawyer questioned. The last time he had been on the other side of the island, he had been carried back in a stretcher.

"According to Rousseau's mas, there should be cliffs around this way."

Jack's head jerked up. "Cliffs?" Now he started getting more worried. What if Kate was near those cliffs? What if she had already fallen from them? What if they didn't get to her in time? He'd lose her...and the baby...he'd lose everything...

"Yes," Locke confirmed. "There's a small beach as well, but its surrounded by cliffs. It's only accessable from either the sea or the jungle."


	9. Chapter 9

The next morning, Kate was awakened by the girl much earlier than the previous day. In fact, it was still dark when they woke up. She could see from the sky above them that the greyish clouds were about to be hit by the sunrise.

"Wake up!" The girl called.

"I'm awake." Kate told her, sitting up and leaning back on her hands to get her bearings for a moment.

"We've got to go now." The girl said.

Kate climbed to her feet, she had expected that. "I thought so."

"We're nearly there now." The girl said excitedly.

"Nearly where?" Kate asked, although she still had no hope that the girl was going to tell her.

"There!" She said, as if that were name enough for the place. "Come on!"

---------------------

"Daddy. Daddy. Daddy...Daddy!"

"What?" Jack asked, jerking awake at the sudden volume of the voice before him. He saw the boy he had been following standing beside him where he was sitting up against a tree. "Oh, it's you." He realised.

"We're going to be late." He said. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Jack asked, climbing to his feet, glancing over at the others, who were still sleeping.

"You have to follow me." The boy said, and started to walk out of the clearing.

Jack looked back at the others, debating whether or not to wake them, and then decided against it. He turned, taking his bag, and then followed the boy.

The boy had stopped in his tracks, waiting for Jack further up the path. "They're waiting." He said simply, walking forwards again.

"Who are?" Jack asked, following him obediently.

"Mommy and Lily."

"Oh...where are they?" Jack asked.

"You'll see in a minute." The boy said cryptically.

"Why are they all the way out here?" He asked.

"Because it's our special place." The boy revealed. "Our holiday place."

"Holiday?"

"We come sleep here for some days." The boy told him. "Mommy likes it here. We like it here too."

"Okay." Jack nodded, and after a beat, asked: "Why do we have to come out here now?"

"You need to see." The boy said.

"See what?"

"The good stuff. You need to know that stuff's gonna be okay."

"Stuff?" Jack questioned. "What kinds of stuff?"

The boy turned to him. "You're gonna take care of everyone, like you said."

----------------------

"This is it!" The girl said, running ahead even faster so that Kate lost sight of her for a moment. She picked up her pace, following the girl, and suddenly, she burst out of the jungle.

She was now standing on an empty beach. Either side of the beach were sloping white cliffs, almost as white as the soft sand beneath her feet. About forty feet outwards, the calm waves were lapping against the shore, the shapes of the white horses rising up out of the deep blue. Even from this far back, she could see how clear the water was. Beyond that, the sky was just starting to brighten ready for the oncoming sunrise.

"This place is beautiful." She muttered under her breath, glancing all around her at the beauitful scenery.

"We come here for special days." The girl told her.

"What am I meant to see here?" Kate asked.

"It's not ready yet." The girl said, shaking her head. "We need to wait."

"For what?" Kate questioned.

"Daddy and Luke."

--------------------

"This is it! We're here!" The boy said as they entered a clearing.

Jack looked around him. There was nothing here save a few leaves on the ground...no people, no objects, no Kate.

"I don't see anyone." He admitted.

"Lily said here." The boy complained to him. "Where is she?"

"I-I don't know." He said, slightly confused. He didn't even know who this 'Lily' was, let alone where she was.

"Maybe she went onto the beach already."

The beach? So that's where they were going... "Maybe." Jack nodded.

The boy grabbed his hand, and ran through the clearing, dragging Jack with him. They burst onto the most beauitful beach he had ever seen.

And there, standing further along the beach, a small girl dancing around her heels, and a golden dog watching from behind...was Kate


	10. Chapter 10

**Just to let you all know, this is the last chapter, and the next one will be the epilogue.**

He had never felt more relief in his life. Standing there, seeing Kate alive and well near to him, he had to let out a smile. He realised too, that her eyes were trained on the shoreline, and sometimes, when he saw the girl at her feet talking, she would look down and smile, saying something back to her. She looked happy.

She was awake now...when had she woken up? She wasn't sleepwalking anymore. He had to admit that he wasn't so sure that she was sleepwalking the entire time, but even so, Locke was right when he had said that she was following someone. It seemed like she had been lead here in the same way he had.

The boy let go of his hand, and started running over to Kate and the girl. Jack followed him, walking slowly towards them all, and noticed how Kate looked shocked when the boy launched himself at her, hugging her legs and resting his head on her waist. After that, the boy hugged the girl, who he assumed now, was the Lily that he had been talking about.

Kate looked down at the boy. "You must be Luke." She said softly. At his name, the boy looked up at her and smiled. His smile reminded her of the childhood pictures of herself. He had freckles too, just like the girl.

Vincent started barking, and Kate turned, seeing Jack approach.

"Jack!" She called quietly, and ran a few paces towards him. She lept into his waiting arms, and they held each other tightly.

"Thank God you're okay." He murmered into her hair as he held her. "You are okay, aren't you?" He said, releasing her a little so that he could look into her face.

She nodded. "Yeah. I'm okay." She confirmed. "What are you doing out here?" She asked him.

"Following you." He told her, stroking her cheek gently. "Well...following someone else to you." He said, nodding his head in the direction of the boy that he had followed.

Kate followed his gaze to the two children, who were now playing together in the sand, then she snapped her head back to Jack. "You can see them?" She asked, barely above a whisper.

He ndoded. "Both of them."

She shook her head slowly, smiling to herself. If Jack could see them too, then that surely meant that she wasn't crazy.

"She's calling me her mother." She revealed, just waiting for him to tell her that she was insane.

Instead, Jack nodded. "He's calling me his father, and asid that he was coming to find his sister and mother."

Kate looked over at the two. "This is crazy." She laughed. "I must be dreaming." It wouldn't have surprised her...she seemed to have a habit for strange dreams at the moment

"You were sleepwalking when you left camp." Jack told her.

"I was?" She asked...if that was the case, when had she woken up?

"Yeah." Jack confirmed. "I woke up, and you were gone." He placed a kiss on her forehead, bringing her closer to him again and holding her tightly. "I was so scared, Kate. I thought something terrible had happened to you."

"I'm sorry." She said into his neck, placing a soft kiss on the revealed skin there.

"Look!"

The girl called out to them, and then came running over to them, pulling at the bottom of their shirts so that they looked away from each other and towards the shoreline. The sun was rising now, and casting a golden light upon the sands, which sparkled like jewels where the waves hit them.

They gazed at the beautiful scene before them, it had been a while since they had watched the sunrise together. But suddenly, there was a change of scene before them. People appeared on the beach out of nowhere. A tall, dark haired man wearing a white shirt that was rolled up at the sleeves, and a curly haired woman wearing jeans and a cerise tank top.

"That's us." Kate mumbled in disbelief.

The images of themselves were walking along the sands, holding hands and brushing shoulders against each other as they walk. The twins left their sides, and ran over to the images of them instead, and they watched the images of them react to the children. As the children ran over, the images of themselves greeted them happily, lifting them into the air as they laughed before returning them to the sands.

Jack and Kate had no idea how long they stood there, in complete silence, just holding each other as they watched the scene before them unfold. Kate noticed that the image of herself was sprouting a baby bump, signalling that she was pregnant still despite the presence of the two children that were already hers. She smiled at the thought.

They watched together as they saw the family racing along the sands, marking a finish line in the sands with a stick before running over it and laughing as they crossed the finish line. Kate gave a gentle smile...that was the sort of running that she didn't mind.

After they had ran the course they had made what seemed like a thousand times, they went over to a small shelter further along the beach, sitting down to eat some lunch that was already there waiting for them. Then, once they had eaten, the children sat on the sands, making sandcastles, and the images of Jack and Kate propped themselves up against each other, laying in each others arms as they watched the children play. Jack placed his hand over Kate's stomach, which was sprouting more of a bump than the real Kate, and the real Jack followed suit, and the pair glanced away from the image to smile at each other, leaning into each others embrace even more.

They noticed that neither of the four seemed unhappy. Not once was there a frown or a sad face until the girl tripped over a stone and landed flat on her face in the sand. Jack was at her side in an instant, picking her up and checking for any grazes, but she stopped grizzling once she was getting attention from her parents.

----------------------

"Jesus, he's getting as bad as Freckles running all over the place." Sawyer complained, as they trudged through the jungle following Jack's tracks.

"At least he's leaving a trail." Locke pointed out.

They followed the trail to the edge of the beach, and came out onto the sands, spotting Jack and Kate standing in each others embrace further down the beach.

"There they are." Locke announced, even though they had all seen them already.

Sawyer looked at them curiously. "What are they looking at?"

All he could see before them was the sea and the cliffs, but still, they were spotaenously smiling at things and then holding each other closer. What where they seeing that they couldn't?

"I don't know?" Locke shrugged as they started over towards the pair.

---------------------

The sun was higher in the sky now, and the overall sunrise was over. The pair were left standing there as the image before them faded, and the last thing they saw of the image was the four sitting together, all smiling as they just enjoyed each others company. The image disappeared as randomly as it had came, and Kate suddenly felt weak.

She leaned forward against Jack's chest, letting him hold her upright. "You okay?" He asked her, tightening his arms around her.

"What was that?" She asked breathlessly.

"I don't know." He answered. "But it was us."

"And them." She added, realising that the children they had followed and spoken to for the past few days had vanished along with the image.

Jack's hand was still between them, resting on her stomach which had their baby encased inside. "Maybe you're having twins." He suggested.

"Maybe." She agreed tiredly.

"Are you feeling okay?" He asked again.

Kate nodded. "I just feel a bit...weak." She admitted.

He helped her to sit down on the ground, and grabbed her a bottle of water from his bag. "You're probably exhausted from running through the jungle for two days, and you're dehydrated."

She nodded, just accepting his diagnosis, and drinking the water he offered her.

"Jack. Kate."

The others were approaching, and Jack nodded to them as they joined them sitting on the ground.

They rested on the beach for a while, and then started back home. They walked slowly, to allow for Kate's feeling of weakness that Jack suggested was linked to morning sickness and the pregnancy. They stopped often for rests, as Jack was more than happy to stop for the night now that Kate was beside him.

Eventually, they came to a clearing, where Kate stopped in the centre of.

"What's the matter?" Jack asked, seeing that she was looking around.

"Flowers." She murmered underneath her breath, and started looking around. "I need to find the flowers."

Jack looked around, but saw nothing. "Kate, there's no flowers here."

"No. She said they were here." She said, meaning the girl that she had followed. "Flowers that she was named after, I have to find them."

Jack was about to tell her that the boy had mentioned the girls name, but she was already searching through bushes. The others stopped for a water break as her and Jack searched through the bushes.

"Jack!"

He headed towards Kate's call, and found her kneeling down, parting a bush with her hands. Inside, were a single gathering of white flowers.

"Lillies." She smiled as he caught sight of them. "Her name was Lily."


	11. Epilogue

**First of all! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed this fic! twinmuse; hug-me; jimmy-barnes-13; printesa-ileana; Orlando-crazy; Peppy87; TBrennanFan; applebee; AnnPatrick; Katy; X-Kate-X; chocolate4eva; astacia; islandgal13; Sue Larisch; Wanda; Livs-xxx; ikot-ikot; CrAzYhOrSeGiRl88; emmabean; KatieBug; SittingWishingWaiting; Beth; Taima1; 1LostFan; vands88; KateLilly; northbabii03; Roxy; Freckles-101; Liiizzz; TVslave; becc-gallanter; hersheygal; mugglecastlover31; Spiral Static; kballgetlost; simp; nikki-da-latina; Alyssa; Shortymae; Tinkerbell; yas-m  
And of course...EternalConfusion...where would I be without you?**

**Epilogue**

Upon their return to the main camp, Kate stopped having her insane dreams. Of course, she still dreamt of Chris at night, and sometimes her dreams would leave her craving the comfort that Jack readily offered her, but she no longer dreamed of a phantom baby with blood that she ran from. She no longer dreamt of Jack walking away from her with the baby. Instead, she started to enjoy her pregnancy in a way that she hadn't been able to with Chris's. She happily showed off her baby bump rather than needing to cover it up with thick jumpers and go for too long without food and just hope that no damage was done to the baby.

True to what they saw that day on the mysterious beach, Kate gave birth to twins seven and a half months later. A boy and a girl, just like they were shown. The labour was six hours long, long enought to become tiresome, but quicker than Claire's had been. Claire had sat at her side, helping her through the birth whilst Jack had brought their children into the world. Without a second thought, they named their daughter Lily, after everything that they had been through. Their son they named Luke, which Kate suggested. Jack had been with the boy, but hadn't heard his name until Kate suggested it, and they knew straight away why they had chosen those names.

Luke's middle name was Christopher, named for the half-brother that the twins would never know, and as the pair began to grow older, they came to understand that Mommy had another little boy once, but he lived in heaven with the angels now instead of with them. Chris became their guardian angel, and for the first time in her life, Kate was able to accept that her life could go on without the loss of her first son plaguing her.

Lily and Luke grew up on the island amongst all the other children. Aaron was a year older than them, with only a year and six days seperating them. Sun and Jin's daughter, Bailey, was two months older than the twins, and the four of them formed a tight knit group. Hurley and Libby also had a son, named Tito, after the grandfather that Hurley loved so much, and he was two years younger than the twins. As soon as he was able to walk, he was off getting into trouble with the rest of them.

And, as they had been told, every now and again, Jack and Kate would retrace the trail to the beach that the images of twins had lead them to. They took short holidays there, and every few months, they went there over night, or sometimes longer. They lived the images of them running up and down the beach, in a shelter that stayed standing whilst they were back at the main camp. When the twins were four years old, Kate broke the news that she was expecting another child, and eight months later, Jack delivered a second daughter, whom they named Jaime.

Jack and Kate lived a wonderful life together, and because she was happy, the nightmare she had never plagued her sleeping mind again. Every morning, she was able to wake up to the shining faces of her children, and that was more than enough for her.

As the children had told them once, they had seen. Kate had seen that she could be a good parent. All the disbelief that had came about in her mind after Chris's death was gone, because she came to see that motherhood wasn't as hard or as scary as she believed it was going to be. Jack, equally, had faced his fears, and found that he could protect his new family, and he liked nothing better than to be playing around in the sand with his children.

The one thing he did have an issue with, however, was that Lily, Jaime and Kate outnumbered him and Luke, but they were working on that now that Jaime was getting older.

THE END.


End file.
